Your editor sends you the JPGs in an email. “Here is the cover design for your book. We all think it’s great!”

You eagerly open the file and . . .

Ugh. Your stomach thuds, you feel like maybe you are getting the flu.

Here is one of those difficult transition moments I’ve written about before. When you were writing your manuscript, you were the master of your universe.

Now, you are a member of the team and have far less control. The journey of taking a manuscript to become a published book is filled with these experiences.

The cover may not be what you’d envisioned. Take a deep breath and stay calm. Your initial reaction may not be the best.

Most publishers want to hear the author’s ideas for a cover design. After all, you are the expert on your book and you (should) know your market. But unless you are a bestselling author, your contract probably says you have cover “consultation,” rather than rights to “approval.”

Your best recourse is to act as collaborative partner. Remember that publishing professionals see the book cover as their expertise. Book cover designers spend their lives honing a visual language for connecting with readers. They also design with issues in mind that you probably have not considered—for example, that a cover should look good as a small thumbnail on a mobile screen.

That said, we’ve seen our share of disappointing covers. If this happens to you, here’s what I suggest.

First ask yourself a tough question: Do you object to the cover because it doesn’t fit your subjective aesthetic preference? If so, this argument alone will not leave you in a strong position. Instead, ask yourself Will this cover speak to the right market? If not, be prepared to explain, specifically, why.

Call your agent. A good agent will be happy to give an objective, and experienced assessment and also to act as a buffer between you and your editor.

Ask your agent to arrange a conference call with your editor to express your reservations, politely, directly, and with respect.

Show some examples or provide specific suggestions for what you think would be a better direction. Use your best communications skills and begin by pointing out what you like about it. (Come on… there must be something good about this cover.)

If you do not prevail, move ahead and try to let go. It may truly be out of your hands (at least until you get a second chance with the paperback). Focus instead on what you can control. Move on to preparing a great website and publicity plan. There are so many things you can do to help sell your book.

For those of you who are self-publishing, by all means hire a professional designer with experience in book jacket design. The cover is too important to be an amateur job.

And by the way, many industry folks were quite taken by this bold book design in 2016. Yes, the cover print is upside down. The subtitle is on the back! What do you think?

A few weeks ago, my oldest son Gabriel left us for his junior college year abroad ​in Athens, Greece. It was a bigger transition than sending him to college in Wisconsin. Yes, we can fly to Athens if absolutely necessary, but he isn’t looking for that, and the flight is long and expensive. So this represents the first time he’s really on his own beyond a day’s travel. We are thrilled for him. But for us, it is more difficult that we expected. It’s another way parents need to let go, and so far he’s doing well and we aren’t looking over his shoulder but enjoying the occasional Skype or text.

Whether it is birthing pains or kids leaving the nest, transitions can leave many of us feeling fragile and anxious. This is also true of many authors when it’s time to submit their manuscripts.

Unless you’ve written one, it’s hard to understand the mental energy required to write a book to trade publishing standards against a deadline. Writing is original, one sentence at a time thinking, and that requires the mind’s most energy-intense work over months and years.

Authors need to navigate handing over the manuscript to the publisher without getting caught up in negative feelings or fears that can make it hard to think clearly.

None of this is to say you shouldn’t advocate for your views and concerns–or even take action if a publisher is damaging the book. But I’ve seen how important it is for authors to distinguish between their free-floating transition anxiety, and a genuine need to advocate for themselves.

For authors, while your editor and marketing team have loved your proposal, now you are entering a new relationship. Your editor has sole responsibility for turning your pages into a quality finished product, one that lives up to the excitement generated by the proposal. Most editors are already passionately connected to your manuscript and want to implement ideas that arose from their reading and acquisition of the book. Their role isn’t to copyedit or proof your manuscript; production does that. Their role is to collaborate with you.

Sometimes the editor may ask for some structural changes, or want sections rewritten or heavily edited. Except in very rare cases, however, they won’t push for heavy restructuring.

Keys to coping:

Remember that it is a great opportunity to work with an experienced editor who wants to help make your book as appealing as possible for a global audience.

The editor’s recommendations aren’t cast in marble. They’re open to discussion and your perspective.

Most authors are understandably too close to their books to see them objectively. The editor “speaks” for the readers who pick up your book for the first time. Ask your agent or a trusted advisor about editorial changes you may find objectionable.

In other words, keep your cool. Once your book is published, it goes out into the world and in many ways, is not yours anymore. It belongs to the reader. When you hand in your book to your editor- it’s a first step in letting go.

Big Fish Media has added website design to our portfolio of services. During the last six months, we have developed the official website for the legacy of C.K. Prahalad; and the website for the book Choosing Change, by Susan Goldsworthy and Walter McFarland. We’ll have more news about our planned offerings soon; along the way, we’ve been doing our homework on top issues for nonfiction authors deciding to develop a website for their book. Over the next week or so, we will publish four posts offering insight, tactics, advice, and best practices to authors, drawn from our experience and analysis of successful nonfiction author websites.

Remember that in almost every case, authors need to be active in social media as well as operating a successful website. And, as Jason Allen Ashlock wrote in his excellent column The Truth About Author Websites, many experts believe a bad website does more harm than good. Because of the importance of costs and providing updated and new content, we still recommend WordPress as the best development platform and learning to self-admin your site is critical.

Consider a few of these basic must-dos for an author’s website, assuming his or her book is going to be published commercially and in distribution:

1. Keep content fresh: whether via blogging, news updates, interactive Q&A features, or other means; don’t allow your site to become stale (if you’re going to have a blog, be committed to creating new material at least once a week). Link to your social media.

2. Invest in a WordPress-savvy designer for a simple, elegant and functional approach. That may seem like obvious advice. What’s important is to visualize information in a style that consumers are used to: note the design on Simon & Schuster’s new websites.

3. In terms of functionality, the do no harm principle is key: whomever you hire to develop your site, take extra steps to ensure it is not buggy, that all links work, that there are no typos, and that functions provided on the site actually work. Further, avoid complex functionality that distract from your purpose, including digital bells and whistles such as Flash that won’t open properly on many machines: I like these 8 usability tips from Monica Valentinelli at SFWA.org.

4. Collect contacts and share valuable information via a newsletter or other regular outreach that could take place monthly, bi-monthly, what have you. Recruit followers for your book’s Facebook page. Newsletter signups should be available on the home page with no additional clickthroughs.

5. Use endorsements, media mentions and reviews, any manner of credible third-party affirmations to sell your message.What other people say about you is more important than what you say about you.

6. Be personal, open, and direct so viewers and readers get to know you. Personality matters. Rigorously scrub your bio and personal reflections of corporate jargon and excessive details. Share what’s important to you and gives you purpose. Such an approach can become counterproductive if you don’t use your common sense about what to reveal of yourself, or let your ego run amok. Business and leadership author Scott Berkun has a useful post on writing a bio; Richard Ridley in Amazon’s CreateSpace community offers a smart piece on the three types of author bios; marketing master innovator Rohit Bhargava writes and speaks frequently on why personality is important in connecting online–see his books and presentations here.

Readers are passionate. To self-publish, authors need to match that passion.

by Sarita Venkat

Big Fish Media is chronicling author Susan Price in a series of posts as she navigates the world of self-publishing. We follow the choices she faces, the decisions she makes, and the challenges she encounters in all areas, including research, production, and marketing. We’ll also offer tips, resources, and insights about self-publishing.

Even before Susan self-publishes her book she has something many—if not most—self-published authors lack: a solid foundation. In our conversations I learn what sets Susan apart from other writers.

Having passion: If you are writing a book to make money, stop right now. The only way you’ll succeed is if you are deeply passionate about your topic. Working with parents to help them instill philanthropic values such as giving and serving in their children (toddlers to teenagers) is Susan’s passion.

Being clear and focused: Susan has a purpose for writing her book: she wants to update her 2001 book The Giving Family:Raising Our Children To Help Others. For the new book, she will incorporate fresh ideas and insights that reflect giving in the digital age. Susan is also writing this new book to secure more speaking engagements. (“I am an extrovert and giving speeches is a great way to interact with people.”)

Understanding self-publishing: Susan has already traveled the traditional publishing path with her previous six books. But she wanted to try something different this time. Similar to other authors, she wants to retain more control of the publishing process and prefers not to find an agent or publisher this time. But, Susan is aware that it won’t be easy. If you are self-publishing be clear about what parts of the process you will do and those that you will outsource.

Being a subject matter expert: Susan has been immersed in family philanthropy for years. In addition to penning The Giving Family, she’s written numerous articles and given many speeches on the topic. She is a subject matter expert who is already known in her field. When she is ready to market her book, Susan will have a good starting point. But like other authors, she will have to research additional audiences to reach.

Building a legacy: On a personal note Susan is writing this book with her daughter. (“A boomer mother and her millennial daughter.”) Many of the principles and ideas in the book are from her own experience as a parent teaching her child about being compassionate.

Key Takeaway: What are your motivations for writing your book? Do you have a solid foundation to build from?

What does it take to successfully make the journey to bookstores and ereaders without a commercial publisher? We analyze one writer’s foray.

I just finished reading Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch’s book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book. In excruciating detail, the authors take the reader through a step-by-step process on how to self-publish by (fittingly) self-publishing APE. The book is a guide and resource for authors exploring an alternate publishing route. It’s also a good reminder that in the digital age, it doesn’t hurt writers and publishers to know about the social and technical tools available and accessible to them.

That said, self-publishing isn’t for the fainthearted. The information is overwhelming and the choices numerous. So it got us thinking—why don’t we help demystify the process by shadowing a nonfiction author as they navigate the self-publishing maze?

Meet Susan Crites Price. Susan is a Washington, DC-based freelance writer, book author, and speaker. She an expert on the topic of family philanthropy. Susan has talked about this issue on television (Oprah, NBC’s “Today”) and has written about it in various publications (Working Mother, The Chronicle of Philanthropy).

In 2001 Susan published The Giving Family: Raising Our Children To Help Others, a highly regarded book in the philanthropic world. According to Susan, the book helped her secure some speaking engagements, allowing her to talk about a topic she’s passionate about and in the process, sell more copies. Susan is currently writing an updated version taking into account technology’s role in charitable giving. (“Twelve years ago kids didn’t give online. Today, they do a million things online—including philanthropy.”)

Susan has already traveled the traditional publishing path with her previous six books, so this time she’s decided to self-publish. Why? Similar to many people she wants more control over the publishing process and prefers not to spend time finding an agent or publisher.

So, we’ll travel with Susan as she researches the self-publishing world. We’ll learn about the choices she faces, the decisions she makes, and the challenges she encounters. We’ll follow her as she decides on art for her book cover, finds a printing vendor, and devises a marketing plan.

Self-publishing may be liberating but it is also hard. Over the next few months, we’ll find out how one fearless author finds her way.

If you’re going to take a shot at your most formidable enemy, don’t miss. It turns out that is what happened in the Steve Jobs-Publishing Industry-E book-Collusion-Lawsuit story. And if you’re like me, I’ll bet you find the whole set of events very hard to grasp, and somehow just not that compelling to invest hours of research to piece together. We shout “hallelujah” for the wonderful piece (“The Stupidest Thing Apple Ever Did”) in Slate by Farhad Manjoo that does a beautiful job of explaining and contextualizing the saga of how Steve Jobs used the publishers to smash Amazon’s e-book monopoly (thanks to Leah Spiro for sending to me). Well, it didn’t turn out too well except for Jeff Bezos—in the familiar position of playing the winning hand because of his superior understanding of Amazon’s consumers.

BookExpo America (BEA) is the big annual publishing tradeshow held in early June where publishers lay out their wares for the coming season. As a publisher at McGraw-Hill during the mid-2000s, I talked up our big titles and took more pitches than a catcher working both ends of a doubleheader. Now, as a publishing and communications consultant, I take a different strategy. This year, I decided to concentrate on seminars and panels so that I can bring the latest intel and trends to our clients.

The upshot: publishers are transforming their companies to focus on the reader. This may sound obvious, but publishers historically have talked to booksellers about their books, and booksellers marketed to readers. Now publishers need to bypass accounts to discover where readers are, discover what they’re talking about, and engage them in conversations. Discoverability is the key word.

I loved Gina Centrello’s mantra, “fish where the fish are.” She said Random House does this by developing partnerships on platforms where large numbers of reader communities can be found. For example, they have a partnership with Politico.com, where they publish original content and have an online bookstore. Jonathan Karp said Simon & Schuster has devoted lots of content marketing and attention to C-Span’s Book TV where truly passionate nonfiction readers can be found.

How can authors fish where the fish are? First, focus on data and research:

Explore online brands in your subject area by searching primary concepts in your book to see if they’ve published similar content;

Take a bestselling comparison book and do Google keyword searches to see where the book is getting visibility;

If your book will reach a unique, identifiable community, identify highest traffic websites and track popular topics over 6-8 weeks (use Google Alerts);